Hydraulic controlling means for propellers.



W. L. GILE.

HYDRAULIC CONTROLLING MEANS FOR PROPELLBRS. 1

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 17, 1910.

1,078,092. Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

2 BEEETS-wQHEET l.

if a5 W. L. GILE.

HYDRAULIC CONTROLLING MEANS FOR PROPELLERS.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 17, 1910.

Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4 MMWJ WILLIAM L. GILE, 0F LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN.

HYDRAULIC CONTROLLING MEANS FOR PROPELLERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

Application filed August 17, 1910. Serial No. 577,686.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. GILE, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Ludington, county of Mason, State of Michian, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Hydraulic Controlling Means forPropellers, and' declare the fol- .lowing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription .of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The propellersof motor boats are sometimes built so that the blades maybe adjusted about axes at right angles to the axis of rotation so as tomake it possible to drive the boats forward or backward or to hold themStationary while the engines are running, without making it necessary touse reversing gear or clutch mechanism. except such vas may be requiredto control the propeller blades.

My invention, specifically considered, has for its object to provide asimple and reliable actuating and controlling system for propellerblades of this type.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter he pointed out with particularity in the claims; butfor a full understanding of my invention and of its object andadvantages, reference may be had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view partly in plan and partly in section showing apreferred embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a section taken on line22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section through the stationary base member;Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the controlling valve; and F i 5 isa plan view of the movable member 0 the valve.

Referring to the drawings, A and A" represent two propeller bladesrevolubly mounted in a hub B carried upon the end of a propeller shaftC. The propeller blades are mounted in such a manner that they may berotated about axes at right anglesto the axis of the propeller shaft,thus permitting them to e adjusted to drive in either direction or tofeather and thus produce no driving. movement. If desired, the bladescan of course be adjusted to any position intermediate between the fullforward and the full reverse positions.

adapted to receive pins a and a carried eccentrically upon the innerends of the propeller blades. As the sleeve is moved back and forthalong the shaft, the forks or jaws move the pins on the propeller bladesand turn the blades. All of these parts are now old and well known and,since the present invention is not concerned with the details of thepropeller blade mounting, it is believed that this brief descriptionwill suffice. The sleeve extends through the stern bearing E along thebottom of the boat, and at a suitable point along its length, it passesfreely through a transverse yoke F.

D and D are collars clamped upon the sleeveon opposite sides of the yokeso as to hold the sleeve and yoke against relative movements lengthwiseof the sleeve. yoke forms the means of connection between the sleeve anda hydraulic controlling and actuating system. For the sake of brevity Ihave'illust-rated only a single type of sys tem, one to which the yokeis applicable. It will of course be understood, however, that instead ofthe yoke I may employ any other isuitable means for connecting ahydraulic controlling and actuating system to the sleeve.

The embodiment of my invention illustrated is one in whichthe thrust andpull upon the adjusting sleeve is balanced and to this end I connect theends of the yoke with double-ended pistons or plungers lying on oppositesides of the sleeve. The pistons or plungers G and G serve to move thesleeve inone direction while the pistons G and G are adapted to producea movementin the opposite direction. Each of the pistons or plungers ismovably mounted in a suitable cylinder, these being indicated at H, H, Hand H respectively. The cylinders may conveniently be made up of tubularbody members it having caps h and h screwed or otherwise secured uponthe ends thereof. The caps k are provided with openings it large enoughto permit the plungers to pass therethrough. The- .caps h are providedwith inlet ports to be hereinafter described. Each of the cylinders isprovided with an outlet port which is adapted to be controlled by thecorresponding plunger or piston and is so located that This it willbeuncovered by the corresponding plungeror piston when the latter hasreached the end of its .-'working stroke. These outlet ports areindicated at 1,1, I and I respectively. 1

K is a base plate which is provided with four posts or pedestals, L, L,L andL each of which has a clamping jaw at its upper end adapted toreceive one of the cylinders, thejaws being indicated at Z, Z, Z and 1.Each of the pedestals is cored out so as to provide a passage-waywhich'communicates with the outlet port ,of the corresponding cylinderwhen the cylinder is clamped in place. These passages areindicated at M,M, M and M formed by coring out the base plate.-

N is a pump for pumping oil or other suitable liquid, the'suction end ofthe pump being indicated at n and the discharge end at n.

O is a valve-having four ports 0' to O. The suction end of the pump isconnected to the'port .0 by a pipe P. A branch pipe 10 leading from thepipe P communicates with the passage M in the base plate. The

discharge end of the pump is connected to the port 0 by means of a pipeP, the ports O and 0' being diametrically opposed to each other. Theport 0 is'connected to a pipe which opens into the head it of thecylinder H and constitutes the inlet port for from the pipe P-finto thehead'h of the cylinder H and forms the inlet ort for this cylinder.Theports O and t in the valve are arranged diametrically opposite eachother and are spaced 90 degrees apart from the .ports 0' and O".

Q is the movable member of the valve and it is constructed and arrangedso as to per- 'm it it to place either port in communica tion with thenext adjacent port, at the 55 same time connecting together the tworemaining ports.

The entire system is adapted to be filledwith oil or other suitableliquid.

Assuming that the. pump is operating so as to tend to produce acirculation through the system and that the valve member Q is intheposition indicated in Fig. 1: it will be seen that liquid is beingforced through the pipe P through the valve through the pipe P and intothe cylinders H and H The. base 7 plate itself is also cored out so asto provide I a longitudinal conduit M which is con nected to thepassages M to M by means of branch conduits m to m which are also'Thepistons are illustrated in the extreme positions to which they aremoved bypressure in the cylinders H and H so that the ports I and I areopened. The oil flowing into these cylinders therefore passes throughthe ports I and I and returns to the sucj tion end of the pump throughthe passages in the base member, pipe p, pipe P. It will be seen'thatthe cylinders H and H are also connected tothe suction side of the pumpthrough pipe P and the valve so that there can be no pressure in thesecylinders. If new the valve is turned 90 degrees into the dotted lineposition indicated in Fig. 1, the discharge'end of the pump is connectedwith the cylinders H and H throu h connections which are readily traced,w ile the inlet ports of the othertwo cylinders are connected tothe-suction side of the pump. The liquid will now be forced into-thecylinders H and H and will be withdrawn from the cylinders H and H so,that the pistons are forced toward ,the right, carrying the sleeve withthem, and shifting the positions of the propeller blades. When thepistons have completed their stroke toward the right the ports I and Iare uncovered so that asteady circulation of the liquid is maintained.This circulation of the liquid is very important for the reason thatanyretrograde movement of the pistons is avoided because as soon as theystart back and cover up the outlet ports, the pressure in the systembecomes effective to return them' to the ends of their working strokes.The thickness ofthe member Q. of the valve, measured circumferentially,is less than the width of the ports in the valve casing so that thevalve can never assume a position in which the circulation in the systemis interrupted. This construction also has the advantage that it permitsthe pressure on the opposing pistons to be equalized at any time so asto maintain the pistons inany position into which they have been moved.Thus, when it is desired to stop the boat without shutting down theengine, the pietons are carried into the mid-position and then the valveis turned so as to register with the ports 0' and O If the adjustment ofthe propeller blades has not beenquiteright the valve can be turned alittle to the right or to the left, as conditions may require, thusproducing a differential pressure of any-desired degree upon the pistonsand carrying the blades slowly back to the point where no movement ofthe boat results.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I .have illustrated the valve more in detail. I preferto provide the member Q with two disks Q I and Q, which lie above andbelow the vane or cross member, thus giving a large bearing surface inthe casing and reducing the danger of,

leakage to the minimum.

"While I have illustrated and described "a so with particularity onlyasingle form of my invention I do not desire to be limited to thespecific details so illustrated and de. scribed; but intend covering allconstructions and arrangements which fall within the terms employed inthe definitions of my one'of said inlet ports to the discharge side ofthe pump and simultaneously connects the corresponding outlet port andthe other inlet port to the suction side of the pump.

-' 2. In combination,- a member to be moved, two pistons connected tosaid member, cylinders in which said pistons are mounted, each of saidcylindershaving an inlet port and an outlet port, a pump, a controllingvalve and pipes connecting said ports and the valve to the pump, saidpipes being adapted to be filled with a liquid, and said controllingvalve having positions wherein it connects either of said inlet ports tothe dis charge side of the pump and simultaneously connects thecorresponding outlet port and the other inlet port to the suction sideof the pump.

3. In combination, a member to be moved, two pistons connected to saidmember, cylinders in which said pistons are mounted, each of saidcylinders having an inlet port and an outlet port, a pump, a controllingvalve,

and pipes connectmg said ports and said.

valve to the pump, said pipes being adapted to be filled with a liquid,said controlling valve having positions wherein it connects either ofsaid inlet ports to the discharge side of the pump and simultaneouslyconnects the corresponding outlet port and the other inlet port'to thesuction side of the pump, said valve also having a position wherein itconnects all of said ports bothto the suction side of the pump and tothe discharge side of the pump.

4. In combination, a member to be moved, two pistons connected to saidmember, cylinders in which said pistons are mounted, each of saidcylinders having an inlet port and an outlet port, a pump, a controllingvalve, pipes extending from the suction side and the discharge side ofthe pump to said valve and to said ports, said pipes being adapted to befilled with a liquid, said controlling "alve having a position whereinit connects one of said inlet ports to the discharge side of the pumpand simultaneously connects the corresponding outlet port and the otherinlet port to the suction side of the pump, and said valve also having aposition wherein it connects all of said inlet ports both to.

the suction side of the vpump and to the discharge'side of the pump.

5. In combination, an element to be moved, a piston member connected tothe aforesaid element and having two opposed piston faces, a cylinderapparatus in which said piston is movably mounted, said cylinderapparatus having an inlet port and an outlet port on the same side ofeach of said piston faces, a pump, a controlling valve, and pipesconnecting the said ports and the valve to the pump, said pipes beingadapted to be filled with a liquid, and said controlling valve having aposition wherein it connects one of said inlet ports to the dischargeside of the pump and simultaneously conmeets the corresponding outletport and the other inlet port to the suction side of the pump.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM L. GILE.

, Witnesses:

WM. F. FREUDENREICH, H. S. GAITHER.

